Category

Project Manager

Area

Project Year

Photographs

Text description provided by the architects. The ABC Building is located around SeonJeong Royal Tomb with history of old Seoul in Gangnam area in Korea. The boastful - glaring buildings in Gangnam block view from the site to the royal tombs park while the roof of five story building suddenly opens view to beautiful landscape of the park. The building can be regarded as “Architectural Mountain” the roof terrace as “Architectural Summit”. People climb up the building by narrow exterior stair alleys. These five stair alleys opened to public are cascaded like small stream falls or stepped vegetation wall garden. The passenger meets silent and beautiful sceneries from inside of bricks stair alley wall and outside from the royal tombs park to reach the top of the building.

In terms of building material, the black brick is the most visible material in the Building. Black bricks present the respect to the historical park. The building starts with laying a piece of brick on the ground. From middle of the building, it changed to the steel frame system and dry brick wall fabrication façade without traditional mortar masonry. It creates transparent experience of solid brick wall with multiple brick wall layers.

Besides of its innovative brick construction method, the potential of this building begins with its simplicity which would be represented by clear layout, the materiality of brick wall applied in same way. Architecture is the construction of simplicity and the simplicity of construction, understood simultaneously.